Hello PPK! My name is Amber and I am a 15 year vegetarian, 3 year vegan from Southern California. I love vegan junk food way too much, but I also try to eat lots of healthy foods too. I've been lurking around for a long time and finally decided to join in. I don't know very many vegans in real life, so I'm excited to be amongst my people even if only online.

I bought a copy of Appetite for Reduction last year based on a recommendation from another online forum, and I've been reading these boards sporadically for a few months, more frequently lately, so I figured what the heck, sign up. I am not currently vegan (am lacto-ovo vegetarian) but am, for lack of a better word, vegancurious. I've been reading some vegan bloggers and following vegan Pinterest pinners, and thus have a good backlog of awesome vegan stuff to try!

Long time lurker, first-time poster here. I'm Laurie and this year marks my 20th anniversary of being a lacto-ovo veggie. I got a copy of Veganomicon a couple of years ago and began exploring veganism. Since last Fall, my hubby & I have been primarily eating vegan around 95% of the time. I guess you could say I'm in a prolonged transition period. I love all the interesting topics here and look forward to chiming in!

Hi all,I was raised macrobiotic & my mom has been vegan for a long time. Since my late teens I've been omni, with a couple brief flirtations with veganism. I've been trying to lose weight for the past year and have lost about 50 pounds doing a low-carb very high-meat diet and have been feeling like I needed a change. I've also been going to a local sangha on and off for a few years and within the past several months been getting much deeper into my exploration of Buddhism and committment thereof. So I've been thinking about ahimsa (do no harm). I watched Vegucated and Forks Over Knives about a week ago and was reminded of all the reasons I'd been vegan in the first place. I decided that day to transition and haven't eaten any meat since then, and I'm eliminating dairy over the next couple of weeks (not buying any, but there are a few things that I'm finishing up what I have that have some whey protein). I have 2 dogs and after watching Vegucated when I look at meat all I can see is their sweet faces and also some pretty haunting things I saw in that movie. My mom actually has a degree in health & wellness with an emphasis in vegan nutrition so luckily from the food aspect I am well prepared, and I'm a very creative cook. So that part's easy. Harder is removing the other animal products from my life. Researching cruelty-free mascara and all that stuff. And I'm a rabid knitter, and I have a lot of wool. I never really thought about that from a cruelty aspect but I read some stuff about what they do to sheep and now I don't even want to use the yarn I already have. I don't want to waste it though. I'll likely give it away. Sigh. Of course, right now I'm in this very obnoxious new-veg phase where I keep talking about it and reading about it and just being generally obsessed. I'm glad to see like minded people here that won't be turned off by my current zeal :)

Hello everyone! I have been a relaxed vegetarian for the past year (based on my love of animals), and made the decision a week ago to become vegan for health reasons. The idea has been in my head ever since watching Forks Over Knives a year ago, so I don't really feel like I'm jumping into this too quickly. I have only been doing this for 4 days, and I already have seen improvements in my health, so I am looking forward to really getting into this. Seeing as I live in WI (land of cheese and brats), I expect that I will find this lifestyle change challenging at times, which is why I decided to sign up for the forums. I do not yet know any vegans irl (hoping that changes), so having some sort of community is going to be really important.

I am Spanish but live in Luxembourg (a teeny tiny country sharing frontiers with France, Germany and Belgium) with my German omnivore husband and my two little almost vegetarian kids (6y & 17m, they eat fish occasionally)

I have been a vegetarian since 1999, I eat 95% vegan but I might eat dairy and eggs if at a restaurant or at friends. I cannot be 100% vegan 100% of the time. It is too hard. I am the only vegetarian I know where I live.

Hi all, I've been lurking since last summer when I convinced myself it was time to finally eliminate all animal products from my kitchen and my household. This website and the forum have been huuuggge in making the transition so easy - so many good ideas and helpful folks. Looking forward to contributing!

[quote="Solalux"I am the only vegetarian I know where I live. [/quote]Welcome. I'm the only one I know here too, and it sure isn't easy. Having vegan friends online [that i get to visit sometimes} makes it a lot more bearable!

Hello, my name is Christin. I was a member here before in 2007, something like that but I haven't been back for awhile and don't have a registered user name anymore. Anyway... I've been eating a vegetarian diet for 16 years and vegan for almost 3 years, but I switched back to vegetarian for relative ease of travel in Central America and across the United States. I lived in Guatemala for several months. I'm from the Midwest United States. I was born in Minneapolis, grew up in Western Wisconsin, lived in Madison for a few years and now am back in Minneapolis.

I live with my partner who is omni and my cat who is a definite carnivore. I work as an analyst by day and make music by way of synths and my voice during my free time. I also like to read, frolic in nature.

I'm back here because I want less emphasis on the ovo-lacto part of my diet and honestly just to cook more. I cooked and baked all the time when I was vegan because I had to. I have a limited kitchen with a toaster oven and hotplate in my current place with access to a bigger kitchen.

Hi! My name is Annabell, I'm a baker who is getting into gluten free and vegan. I've been a vegan for years, the gluten free is new to me but I'm having a blast with it. I love tator tots, although I hardly ever indulge in them, but I've been known to eat 3 plates in one sitting before.

Apparently this is where the new people be at, and I am one of them. My name's Rob, I'm 25 and I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for nigh on two years before I decided to stop half-assing it and go full vegan a few weeks back (I guess about 2 or 3). At this point I have absolutely no plans on turning back. My transformation to preparing vegetarian food started with Mark Bittman's excellent resource cookbook "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" but my introduction to veganism came soon after in the form of Isa's "Vegan with a Vengeance." I've since collected a few more valuable resources by Rich Landau, Miyoko Schinner and others and am constantly trying to experiment with food.

Although my background is in working in mental health (which doesn't matter 'cause I don't have a job right now anyway), food is a bit of a passion of mine, and one I think about pursuing professionally as well. I thought maybe it was time to get myself out there in some forums, and it seems I've come full circle to the PPK. I look forward to learning new things from being here.

Hi everyone, I'm Carrie and I'm excited to be joining the forum. I've been vegan for 2 1/2 years for both ethical and health reasons. I'm a burgeoning animal rights advocate and I write a vegan recipe blog called Carrie on Vegan (with an app for iPhones and iPads called Vegan Delish).

My fave color is purple and I can eat tater tots by the handful, except, ya know, I don't. :)

Hi, I am Tamara!!! I have been mammal free for about 20 years and just went full vegan in January. I love my new guilt free lifestyle. My family is Omni, so I still cook for them, but we are all eating much healthier now. I love this website and have used tons of recipes from the PPK. I know a few vegetarians and one vegan - but I think it's awesome to hear all of your opinions, ideas and food you are all eating. I loooooooooove to talk about food!!!!!!!!

I'm Kate from Vancouver BC. 23. Raised on the Island, been in Vancouver for a year and bit. Proud mom of a kitty and a Cardigan Corgi, girlfriend to a great vegan man, employee at Lush Manufacturing.I like grindcore/powerviolence, sewing, and uh, riding the bicycle. And TEA!

Stopped eating meat when I was 10, bought How It All Vegan (followed by VWAV) at 18 and was fully vegan a year later. Then finally moving to a bigger town where suddenly the majority of my good friends were vegan was the best thing to happen to me. Sometimes I worry about putting myself in a bubble but being surrounded by other vegans is just so great. Just passed my four-year vegan anniversary and I've never felt better.

Lately I hadn't been feeling like I was eating all that great, and of course I didn't feel great either. I decided that in the same way that I simply started making more vegan foods and they replaced the dairy and eggs in my diet, I could make healthier foods more often and by default it would leave less room for junky foods. Hence I've been having a fresh fruit smoothie for breakfast every day and a big green salad for lunch almost every day. My body feels better, my mood and energy have improved and I just feel great all around.

I believe anyone is entitled to live how they want, but I also believe that as vegans we have a certain responsibility to be ambassadors for the practice, and be healthy, compassionate, awesome people, and lead by example. We all would like others to also become vegan, yes? So let's make it appealing! :)

Hey I'm Becca; I am twenty and from Ontario, Canada! :) I am currently in the transition from Vegetarian to Vegan and am super pumped! I live in a small town that has zero Vegan options so I'm hoping to learn more about cooking and baking for myself.

I have been creepin' on this site for a while and have learned a lot so I thought I would sign up!

Hi PPK! I used to be on this board years and years ago.. Then I had a stint of hedonism in my early 20's that just ended. So now I am vegetarian again, trying to transition back into being vegan. Luckily I live in one of those places that makes it really easy-Brooklyn! So anyway, I'm Dori and hi :)

Hi, my name is Sidnie, but I usually go by Sid since everyone has a different spelling of my name and my mom wanted me to be unusual.

I have just decided to try and become a vegan. Seriously, this was about two days ago.

Over my spring break, I visited friends of mine and one of them had been vegan for four or five months now. I always had that kind of stereotypical view of vegan food, that it was tasteless or there was nothing to eat, but staying with them for ten days really opened my eyes to the amount of choices. My friend also showed me one of the documentaries she watched that convinced her go vegan (it's called Forks Over Knives) and that also opened my eyes. I thought about it during my time there and they also bought me a book with shopping lists, advice, stories, and studies to kind of help me if I decided to try it.

I'll be taking a 30 day vegan pledge soon. In the mean time I'm doing my best to stay away from animal based products. Doesn't help that I made the decision two days after my father went grocery shopping. My own fault.

So, here I am! I've talked to my family and they're all fine with it, but I do not think I'm going to get much support. The person I know is my friend and she lives half way across the country. I figure most of my support will come from online and this seemed like a good place to look for any advice and ask questions.

That's all for now. So sorry I can't give out my social security number. I seem to have forgotten it.